Cracked But Not Broken
by Copy-Nin's Daughter
Summary: Friendships can come from the most terrible circumstances. Itachi didn't know who the kid was when he rescued him. Shikamaru couldn't believe that Itachi had a good side. This is a friendship story, NO SLASH. Rated M for implied rape and heaps of angst etc.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is dark. I don't know what possessed me to write something like this. I've seen a few fics like it, but none finished, and they all have some sort of slash in them. This is meant to be purely friendship. That being said, it is rated M for violence and implied rape, mentions of rape, and flashbacks that won't be graphic. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! If you don't like that, please don't read it, and please don't flame.**

 **Please forgive me if Itachi and Shikamaru are OOC.**

 **Updates will most likely be sporadic.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I'm just borrowing the characters.**

Shikamaru jerked awake with a start, and then promptly wished he'd stayed unconscious. There wasn't a part of his body that wasn't sore or throbbing in time with his heartbeat.

It took a moment for him to remember what happened, and when he did remember, he felt tears rise unbidden in his eyes.

 _Had that really happened?_

Afraid that it really had, he shifted a little, and immediately clamped his lips together as pain shot up through places he didn't want to think of.

 _Oh Kami, it really did happen._

This time he couldn't stop the tears as they ran down his face. He sniffed, ashamed of acting like this, but at the same time crying because he _was_ ashamed.

It all just made him cry harder, and for once he wished he didn't have an overactive mind as a sob tore through him and the pain momentarily intensified. He gasped, and sobbed again.

"Well, well, look who woke up."

Shikamaru jerked in surprise, and blinked in the low light as he tried to find the source of the voice. It was _him._ Unbidden fear coursed through him, making him stiffen.

"Aw, what's the matter with the little Leaf nin? Didn't you enjoy our fun together? I sure did. I bragged to my buddies out there, and they want a turn too."

Dread coursed through Shikamaru.

 _This couldn't be happening…it couldn't!_

The rogue Cloud ninja laughed, and Shikamaru wanted to scoot into the far corner and wrap his arms around himself protectively. Unfortunately, his various wounds and the ropes tied tightly around his wrists and ankles kept him from doing more than look desperate as he tried to shimmy away.

 _Damn it, I_ am _desperate!_

The man just laughed louder.

"Before I let them have a turn though, I thought we'd have another go. You provide more fun than I've had in a while."

Shikamaru felt sick, and the tears continued to roll down his cheeks.

"Please don't," he finally managed to croak out past his bruised throat.

In the dark, he was just able to see the flash of white teeth as the man gave him a feral smile. And then the mouth was descending on him, and Shikamaru was gasping and recoiling as the foreign tongue invaded his mouth.

As the man descended on Shikamaru, he wanted nothing more than to be back at home, lounging in the grass with the Nara deer grazing nearby, as he watched the wispy clouds pass overhead. But he wasn't. Instead, he was stuck in this nightmare that didn't seem to want to end.

* * *

Itachi sighed, spitting a mouthful of blood out.

 _Damn. That last jutsu hurt._

He didn't usually go off on his own, but Kisame had gotten the flu, _Really, the flu?_ and had been laid up when Pein had asked Itachi to go on an information retrieval mission. It was supposed to last a month. Itachi had gotten impatient, and had finished in two days.

He really hated this illness too.

 _Kisame can lay around back at base with the flu, but I have a terminal illness and get sent on missions. Lovely._

It may have also been this way because no one but Kisame actually _knew_ Itachi was sick.

Subconsciously rubbing at his chest, Itachi stood from his crouched position, gathered chakra into his feet, and leapt up to the trees.

For once, it seemed that Zetsu wasn't spying on him. With that in mind, maybe Itachi would be able to use his free time that he now had from the mission to relax. It was something he direly needed, having worn himself down and making his illness worse as the last year has progressed.

 _Sasuke will find me soon, and I can't be dead yet. Maybe I can go to Ayaka's inn and take a break there._

Itachi was so deep in thought, he nearly missed the tell tale signs of foreign chakra coming up.

 _Sloppy. I wasn't thinking. I usually don't do that._

Shaking his head, Itachi stopped, and tried to discern where the chakra was coming from. He quickly created a clone, and sent it forward, hoping that maybe he could get information from it without actually getting caught up in something. It might just be nothing. But in Itachi's life as a shinobi, there was no such thing as being too cautious.

After waiting several minutes, his clone automatically dispelled, and Itachi was able to get information from it.

There was a group of missing ninja up ahead in a camp. There had been various traps set up, but nothing of too much note. His clone had gotten past them, so he wasn't terribly worried. The missing nin were probably low level Jounin, or high level Chunnin. There looked to be about five of them.

What had intrigued him though, was their prisoner. Three of the ninja had been packing up supplies; one had been acting as lookout, and one of them had been hovering over a prone figure. Itachi's clone hadn't been able to make out much of the prisoner, other than the figure was tied and foot and wasn't moving.

Shifting through his clone's memories, he wasn't sure he liked the way the man had been looking at said prisoner.

 _If Pein or the others get wind of this, I'll never hear the end of it._

Itachi tried to convince himself that it was stupid, that he should let it go, but his curiosity had gotten the better of him. He wanted to see more, and find out who their prisoner was. And maybe free them, if they weren't yet dead.

 _Yeah. Decide to go on vacation and instead think about rescuing some nobody._

Itachi shook his head, and leapt forward.

It took him about thirty seconds to get to the camp, and their lookout didn't even notice him. Really. The guy was standing right below him, and hadn't reacted to his presence in the slightest.

His sharingan already on, Itachi scanned the camp, and rested his gaze on the form lying limp in front of a clear spot that had appeared to have held a tent recently. Itachi was able to make out all the small details, which were painting an ugly picture.

It was a boy, no older than fifteen. He looked like he was wearing the standard shinobi pants, and some over sized short-sleeved black shirt. Both were absolutely dirty, with blood and dirt and who knew what else. The exposed skin on the boy's arms were covered in bloody cuts that looked to methodical to be accident, and placed in such a way that he knew there was no way they were self inflicted. The kid's hair was matted with blood and dirt, and tangled around the pale face.

Itachi tried not to think of his brother looking like that, but the age and the hair color fit, and he wasn't able to keep the image of a helpless Sasuke out of his head. Unbidden, feelings of rage coursed through him. If it had been Sasuke, Itachi wouldn't have hesitated to kill the men.

 _It wasn't Sasuke though. It's someone completely different._

But did that mean Itachi should leave him to his fate?

With his sharingan, he was able to tell that the boy was breathing, if barely. He probably had broken ribs based on the way his breath stuttered. His forehead was pinched as well, showing that he was in some amount of pain, even in unconsciousness.

Then, someone made a very crude comment about the boy, and Itachi stiffened, feeling slightly sick. Scanning the prisoner again, he realized what some of the dark stains covering the filthy clothes might be.

Another image of Sasuke came to mind, and Itachi had made up his mind.

There was no way he was going to let this go unpunished. It was unethical, and wrong. Even though he was technically a bad guy, there was no way he would stoop so low.

He really hoped the rest of the Akatsuki never found out about this.

Sharingan flashing, Itachi descended on the group.

They barely had time to scream. The man hovering over the boy actually offered a little bit of a challenge to Itachi. For a minute, that is. And then he fell under a fire jutsu, and that was it.

All five men were dead.

If it had been Sasuke, he would have made them suffer.

Maybe he should have done that anyways.

Kneeling down beside the boy, Itachi stiffened. His acute sense of smell had picked up what he'd been hoping it wouldn't.

The boy had been raped, and by more than one person.

Itachi closed his eyes, and wondered once again why he was doing this.

Sighing, remembering his thoughts of a vacation, Itachi gently scooped the boy into his arms, trying his best to keep from aggravating any injuries. For a brief moment, he stiffened in Itachi's arms, and dark eyes opened to stare up at Itachi. The Uchiha was stunned to see the dark eyes holding much more intelligence than he would have guessed. But then they glazed over, and closed once more, and the boy was once again limp in Itachi's grasp.

Ayaka would help him. The grandmotherly woman knew not to ask questions, and had had a soft spot for Itachi ever since he'd…left Konoha. She even kept secrets from the Akatsuki if he asked.

Sighing, Itachi shook his head, gathered chakra into his feet, and then took off, the strange boy cradled in his arms.

 **Please review.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Just a quick thanks to my reviewers and my favoriters and followers. ^_^ I would like to answer you all individually, but I don't have a lot of time. But I lover reading reviews and appreciate any feedback.**

 **If you are at all interested in another Shikamaru story, I have started one with him called Copy Cat's Shadow. I'll take turns updating this one and that one.**

 **MANY APOLOGIES! Itachi is really out of character here. Shikamaru is too, but that's kind've understandable from what he's been through.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I'm just borrowing the characters.**

Itachi travelled for about ten minutes before he decided it was safe to stop and rest. He'd not destroyed the bodies, and though they were missing nin, he didn't want to have anyone on his trail for some reason or another. But before he went any further, he needed to see if he could get the wire off the boy's wrists and ankles, and then see if there were any other injuries that needed immediate help. It would take another hour before he reached Ayaka's inn, and it wouldn't really do to save the kid's life for him to bleed out or something.

Setting the boy down on the ground, he frowned at the blood where the wire had cut into flesh. It would be hard to get off, but he'd done it before.

Cringing at that particular memory, Itachi set to work. Using a kunai, he was able to wedge it between the boy's wrists and with just enough pressure, the wires snapped. Quickly doing the same with the ankles, he put the kunai down and pulled out a sealed scroll. He wasn't the best sealer, but he'd found it much easier to carry extra supplies in storage scrolls. He'd never really needed medical supplies for himself, but he'd never gone anywhere unprepared. That was something he was extremely grateful for now.

After retrieving a roll of bandages, he set to wrapping them around the boy's wrists and ankles so that the sluggishly bleeding cuts might start to clot a bit. He was just moving to check the kid's ribs, when dark eyes shot open. Even with his sharingan, Itachi wondered at how quickly the boy moved. One moment he was laying on the ground, and the next he was about ten feet away, pressing himself as far into the trunk of a tree as possible. Itachi took note that the kid hadn't even stood up-he'd simply scrambled backwards that fast. Injured like he was, that was quite a feat.

Itachi slowly stood, and held his hands out in front of him. When the kid flinched and curled in on himself a little more, he stopped, and lowered himself to a crouch.

 _What in the world was he supposed to say to an obviously traumatized kid?_

At one point, it would have been easy to comfort someone who was younger than him. He'd done it enough times with Sasuke when he'd have a nightmare, or when he'd fallen at the park and skinned his knee.

But this?

Itachi took a deep breath and spoke.

"I'm not here to hurt you," he said softly. He tried to imagine he was speaking soothingly to an animal that had been caught in one of his traps and it was still alive.

 _Well, what a nice comparison there…_

The kid wouldn't look at him.

"Your hurt. I'm just trying to help."

When he still didn't get a response, Itachi sighed. Casting out his awareness, he checked that there would be no interruptions, and then he settled himself on the ground. He kept his hands in full view, and he waited.

It took about five minutes of heavy breathing and tense muscles before the boy finally looked up. He looked confused, and there was still a slightly glazed look in his eyes. Itachi watched him, and wondering how this was going to play out. He could simply put the boy under a genjutsu and make his way to the inn, but Itachi didn't really want to do something that was going to traumatize the boy anymore.

When dark eyes finally met his gaze, Itachi really wasn't expecting the reaction he got. Itachi figured he'd get scared, or he would be even more confused, as you didn't meet someone every day that had red eyes. But instead of either one of these emotions, there was recognition that soon gave way to panic, and then fear and finally tightly closed eyes.

He knew who Itachi was.

Blinking, Itachi's mind raced. He had of course noticed that the boy was wearing the typical shinobi pants, but he had just assumed that they would have been something from one of the missing nin…

Looking back over the boy again, he realized that assessment had been wrong. The pants fit too well to be anyone else's. The shirt was obviously not his. When Itachi had carried him for that brief amount of time, he'd noticed that he was lighter than he should have been. But now that he thought about it, that was probably because of being malnourished from however long he'd been held captive. It was very possible that he had a shinobi build that was just not noticeable.

That then left Itachi wondering just who he had stumbled upon. The bruises on the kids face and the long, blood matted hair made it hard to pick out a specific identity.

Again, Itachi took a deep breath. "You recognize me."

There was just the slightest flinch that anyone else would have missed.

"I don't know what you've heard about me, but I'm not so heartless that I'd attack someone obviously hurt and helpless, unable to defend themselves. I do still have some honor."

 _That_ got a reaction. It seemed instinctual, as he was pretty sure the kid was making extra sure _not_ to look him in the eye. But upon finishing his sentence, the kid's dark eyes shot open, and they were full of incredulous disbelief. He didn't really seem to trust that statement.

Itachi frowned.

"You're obviously a shinobi. You're on your own, so either you had a team and they're dead or left you behind, or you were on a simple mission that wasn't supposed to put you in any danger. No village would send out a genin by themself, so you are either a chunnin, or a jounin. Given that you're still young though, I think that it's safe to assume you're chunnin."

It was just small movements, and even though the boy was no longer looking at him, he still had his eyes open, and Itachi could read him. So far, he seemed to be right in his assumptions.

"Okay. So, are you a chunnin. Are you from River? Sand? Grass? Leaf?"

Itachi rambled off the nearest countries, waiting to say Leaf last, and was rewarded with the slightest flinch. It figured. If anyone would know about him, it would be a shinobi from there.

 _What mess have I gotten myself into now?_

Itachi realized now that he should be able to figure out the kid's identity fairly easily. He had kept subtle tabs on Sasuke before said brother left Konoha, and he knew who all the ninja who had graduated in his class were. The only ones that he recalled had dark hair, were Kiba Inuzuka who this wasn't-he didn't have the clan markings on his face. This wasn't Shino Aburame, because there would have been some sort of clue regarding bugs. So, this left him with Shikamaru Nara.

Leaning back, Itachi tried to imagine the bruised and dirty boy before him with a lazy slouch, and his hair pulled back in a tight, spikey ponytail.

 _Really? I went and rescued Shikamaru Nara? Brilliant._

"Shikamaru," he started.

The boy startled rather violently, and he stared, eyes wide, completely disregarding the sharingan now.

"I know you have no reason to trust me. But at the moment, you're hurt, and I doubt you can even stand up. I can tell you're in pain from the way you're sitting, so don't deny it. You reek of blood. I can leave you here, and we can forget we ever met, but I doubt you'll make it far. By the time someone comes looking, you might be dead, or captive by someone else."

"And you think I'd come with you as _your_ captive?"

Itachi actually jumped. The hoarse voice had surprised him. He was beginning to think that he would never speak.

"Actually, as it would be frowned upon that I saved your life, I was planning on keeping this to myself," he stated matter-of-factly.

Shikamaru-he was pretty sure that was who he was talking to-looked at him, disbelieving and mistrustful.

"There is no reason for you to help me. The only thing you would be gaining is a possible information source for Konoha, or a hostage, and I am not willing to be either."

Itachi sighed. "If you really want, I can put you under a genjutsu and take you prisoner if you'd really like, but I figured you'd had enough of that. I really am just trying to help. And my reason is actually pretty simple."

Shikamaru had flinched at the reminder of his captivity, but he swallowed and spoke again.

"What exactly is you're reason, huh?"

Itachi noticed that where Shikamaru was putting on a brave face, the only reason his hands weren't shaking like leaves was because they were wrapped so tightly around his knees. He sighed again, realizing that he was doing that a lot in this conversation.

"Despite what you may think, I really do have a heart. You reminded me of Sasuke. I would never want him to go through something like that. That is why I'm helping you."

 _I am such an idiot…_

Itachi was trying very hard to resist the urge to bite his tongue off.

 _What in the world is wrong with me?_

Shikamaru was staring at him with a mixture of disbelief, but it was tinged with just a hint of hope.

"I-I don't know what-"

It was at that moment that he uncurled just a bit, and something must have pulled wrong. As he moved one leg out, Shikamaru was suddenly hunching over, suppressing a cry as he wrapped his arms around his middle.

Itachi moved over quickly and reached for him, and should have anticipated that that was a bad idea. Shikamaru was surprised at the sudden invasion of his space, and he jerked back with a cry, a wild look in his eye.

"Don't touch me!" he cried, trying to scramble back, but only succeeding in hurting himself more. Itachi had backed off, and was watching helplessly as Shikamaru curled up on his side, a few tears making streaks in the dirt on his face.

"Okay, I won't touch you," Itachi said. He had really wanted to take a look at his ribs, but it didn't seem like that would work.

Thinking quickly, Itach pulled off his cloak, and slowly approached Shikamaru again.

"Here. I have someplace we can go where you can get some medical help, but I have to carry you," he said. "I won't touch you-you can wrap up in my cloak, and there will be a barrier around you. I won't touch you. I promise."

Itachi realized he was rambling, but he couldn't care. Seeing tears on Shikamaru's face-something inside him was reacting strangely.

He hadn't been affected by tears for years. Not since he'd killed the clan and had left Sasuke crying in the dirt.

 _What the hell is wrong with me?_

Shikamaru just whimpered, and Itachi decided he wasn't going to wait any longer. If Shikamaru had bad internal damage, he needed help now, and if he wouldn't let Itachi help him now, he needed to get to Ayaka's soon. Still moving slowly and deliberately, Itachi draped his cloak over his arms, and then carefully scooped Shikamaru up like he had before. This time though, he tensed up, and Itachi wondered if he was going to fight.

But Shikamaru was fighting a losing battle over his body. He was unable to feign a blank front, and his face was now screwed up in pain, and his body was trembling. From exhaustion, fear, shock, pain, or all of the above, Itachi didn't know.

"I promise, I won't hurt you," he said, holding Shikamaru securely in his arms. Taking a look around in the dimming light, he once again gathered chakra into his feet and took off.

It was after a few jumps and a few unwanted jolts that he was surprised to find that Shikamaru was now clutching the fabric of his tunic in one fist, and his face was pressed into Itachi's shoulder. Pausing a moment, Itachi realized that Shikamaru was crying silently.

Itachi's heart hurt. Not physically. No. This was a hurt he hadn't felt since the few weeks after the massacre of the clan. He had locked his feelings and emotions away in the wake of joining the Akutsuki, and the feeling was foreign.

 _What the hell is happening?_

 **The feels are only starting folks.**

 **Please review! And check out my other story.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thank you to my reviewers on this story. I keep hoping for more but will take what I can get. :-)**

 **I'm going to jump right into this chapter as the slow approach was really bugging me, so if you have any confusion please let me know.**

 **Just a fun fact-this story is based of the song by Imagine Dragon's, called "Nothing Left to Say." The following lines in particular, but I recommend listening to the whole song.**

 ** _Who knows how long I've been awake now,_**

 ** _The shadows on my wall don't sleep._**

 ** _They keep calling me, beckoning._**

 **~Shikamaru**

 ** _Who knows what's right- the lines keep getting thinner,_**

 ** _My age has never made me wise._**

 ** _But I keep pushing on and on and on and on-_**

 **~Itachi**

 **Warning: There is a flashback in this chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

Shikamaru was tense and shaking in his arms, and Itachi couldn't figure out where all the blood was coming from. Some of it was obvious, but did he tear open his other injuries?

How the hell had it gotten so bad so quickly? He hadn't been gone that long.

Shikamaru gave a heart-wrenching whimper, and he tried once again to jerk himself out of Itachi's grasp.

"Shikamaru, listen to me. You're hurt and confused and this isn't making it any

better. Let. Go. Of. The. Glass."

Itachi didn't know if Shikamaru heard him. The boy just kept shaking, and he watched in horrified fascination as blood dripped from Shikamaru's right hand, the glass shard held too tightly-the ragged edges cutting into the soft flesh.

"C'mon kid, let go."

* * *

Shikamaru had woken up with a start, and for several confusing and panicked moments, he had tried to figure it where he was.

Where the _others_ were.

 _And when would they come for him again?_

But then he remembered the red eyes, and the confusion and the hope, and the incredulous disbelief as Itachi had gently picked him up.

Slightly mortified, he vaguely remembered crying all over Sasuke's evil missing-nin brother.

Shikamaru snorted and then winced as his many injuries were jolted by that

small movement. Finally realizing that he was no longer in the company of those...men...he dared to study his surroundings.

He was laying in a queen-sized bed, the covers pulled up to his chin. They were a soft blue, and the plain walls surrounding him were a darker shade of the same color. There was one window to his right, and a couch set underneath it. In the corner to the left of the couch was a desk of sorts. Directly across from the foot of the bed he was in, there as some sort of decorative fan hanging from the wall. To his left, there looked to be a room-probably a bathroom-and then a doorway.

In short, it looked like he was in some sort of inn room.

After waiting a moment, he started to test his limbs, wondering how bad the damage really was. Slowly, he moved his hands out from under the covers, and winced as it pulled at his broken ribs.

Hm. They felt like they had been wrapped.

The image of Itachi wrapping his ribs made him want to laugh, but he quickly quelled that desire as it would only make him hurt worse.

The cuts on his wrists and ankles stung, but they didn't throb so hard with his heartbeat like they had before. Examining his wrists in the morning? light coming through the window, he took note of the neat white bandages and sighed.

Without evening thinking about the action, he reached his right hand up to run it through his hair, and froze. His hair, he knew, had been a tangled mess before. Granted, it still felt pretty tangled, but it also felt infinitely cleaner. Someone must have washed it.

Again, the mental image of Itachi that that brought to mind made him want to laugh, but again, the desire was quickly quelled, though this time by darker thoughts.

A genius mind is a curse, as it can jump from one thought to another in a split second and it can leave others in the dust when they can have already crossed so many bridges to reach a thought that no one else could have gotten to.

Just the one thought about his hair led to so much more, and the next moment, Shikamaru was struggling to breath as panic started to override all his other senses.

 _"Such soft, delicate features. I'd love to see how you would look as a girl. Your_

 _hair, so silky and smooth."_

 _He whimpered in pain as the man abused his body, and he wanted to curl away in disgust as the man buried his nose in his dark hair. But he couldn't move, and if he threw up on the man, it would only make things worse._

 _There was another tug on his hair, and more pain. It felt like he was being torn apart._

 _Kami, help him._

 _It just wouldn't stop._

Shikamaru wasn't aware he was crying until he was finally able to stumble into the small bathroom. His breaths were coming in short gasps, and his injuries were threatening to send him back into oblivion.

But his mind pushed the physical pain away.

His hair. _His damned hair._

Looking at his reflection in the mirror, he was momentarily shocked to see his white complexion tainted by purple and green bruising. And the tears streaming down his face surprised him too. He hadn't realized he was crying.

But the hair, dammit.

His chest hurt badly, and he clenched his hands on the rim of the sink, trying and

failing to breath properly. A small corner of his mind whispered "panic attack" but the rest of him couldn't care less.

He stared at his clenched fingers for a moment, and then looked back up into the mirror.

His tangled hair framed his pale face, and suddenly all Shikamaru could feel was disgust.

When he slammed his fist into the mirror, it hadn't been a conscious thought. It had just...happened. But as the pieces of the mirror fell into the sink and onto the floor, and his fist dripped with blood from the various shards, he stared in shock.

But then his legs finally gave way beneath him and he collapsed to the floor. His back pressed up against the wall, he looked at the shares on the floor, and a sudden thought came to him.

Reaching out with his hand, ignoring the bloom dripping from his knuckles, he picked up the biggest piece. Staring at it for a moment, his breathing a little slower but still fast, he made his decision.

* * *

Itachi heard the shattering glass, and froze. Ayaka, who was sitting across from him pouring a cup of tea, froze as well.

"Shit," Itachi said, and Ayaka didn't even scold him for using language.

Jumping up from his seat, Itachi headed for the stairs and took them three at a time. Coming to the first room, he flung the door open and cursed again as he realized the bed was empty.

He should have stayed up here until Shikamaru woke up.

Granted, he didn't think he would wake up so soon, but that didn't mean he shouldn't have been up here.

Closing the door quickly, Itachi made his way into the bathroom situated behind the door there, and momentarily froze at what he saw.

Shikamaru was sitting with his back to the wall, his feet facing the sink. The mirror was completely shattered, the pieces everywhere. And a particularly large piece was in Shikamaru's hand, and he was raising it towards his face.

Itachi didn't think, he just threw himself forward. His left arm snaked around

Shikamaru's left arm and side, and his right hand grabbed at Shikamaru's hand, holding the shard away from him.

Shikamaru reacted violently and Itachi was surprised at how strong the injured boy was. Itachi could still easily overcome him, but he and Ayaka had just gotten him patched up and he didn't want to hurt him anymore.

Trying to ignore the awful sounds he was making, Itach said, "Shikamaru, listen to me. You're hurt and confused and this isn't making it any better. Let. Go. Of. The. Glass."

Shikamaru didn't, and Itachi didn't have to see the look on the kid's face to know his eyes were probably glazed over and rational thought had escaped the genius mind.

Shikamaru's arm wavered a bit, and Itachi hoped that maybe that meant he was getting through to him.

"C'mon kid, let go," he pleaded.

After another tense moment, Shikamaru went limp and a sob tore from his throat. He dropped the shard, and fell back against Itachi, choking back cries that tore at the heart Itachi thought he had locked away for good.

There was a small rustling sound, and Itachi turned slightly as Ayaka moved into the room, holding a towel in her hand. Carefully bending down, she pressed it into Shikamaru's still bleeding hand. Not wanting to push her luck with him though, she nodded at Itachi and moved back as he took over putting the pressure on the bleeding cuts.

"Shikamaru, tell me what's wrong."

And he did. Between sobs and shaking, and realizing just how badly things had gone, Itachi listened and felt anger coursing through him. If the men hadn't already been killed, he'd go back and torture them to death for what they had done.

Overall though, Itachi was extremely relieved. He had thought the worst when he'd seen Shikamaru with the glass, but after he'd finally managed to explain, Itachi realized he'd just wanted to cut his hair.

Slowly, and gently, by unspoken consent, Ayaka went to get her scissors and while Itachi held the still trembling teen, she carefully cut his tangled and matted hair. She had already wanted to earlier, with how badly tangled it had been, but they had decided to wait until he woke up to ask him what he wanted done with it.

Well, they waited, and it was made clear rather unconventionally how he wanted his hair.

When she was done cutting away the last long black lock, Shikamaru, who had finally stopped crying, reached up with his uninjured hand, and ran it through his now short hair. He closed his eyes and let out a stuttering sigh.

"Thank you," he whispered.

Ayaka's patient help, they got the new cuts on Shikamaru's hand bound and him back on the bed. Within moments, he was once again sound asleep, but this time, Itachi would be there with him when he woke up.

 **Itachi is still a bit ooc, or maybe, really ooc, but yeah…I'm really not sure how I like how this chapter turned out.**

 **I will have a bit more about Itachi and Ayaka in the next chapter, because this story is supposed to be based on Itachi's issues too.**

 **Please Review!**


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